Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) said the Biden administration needs to take control of the border to stop the invasion of illegal drugs, like fentanyl, across the U.S. southern border.
“The Biden administration’s blatant disregard for the invasion at our southern border has endangered countless American lives from exposure to deadly illegal drugs like fentanyl. President Biden’s policies proactively make the border invasion worse and put the safety of the American people last,” Good said in a statement to State Newswire.
Since 2018, the relationship between the U.S. and China has deteriorated as the U.S. has adopted a tougher foreign policy posture toward China, while China has grown more assertive about defending its interests, the Wall Street Journal reported. Conversations regarding fentanyl between Chinese officials and members from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and State Department ended, according to officials from the Biden administration.
Even though China moved to regulate fentanyl and two of its precursors in 2019, the nation is the top supplier of fentanyl in the U.S. Most of it is supplied indirectly, according to the Brookings Institute. It describes China’s cooperation in counternarcotics efforts as “highly selective, self-serving, limited and subordinated to its geopolitical interests.” China has refused to accept co-responsibility for the fentanyl epidemic. It maintains that Mexican law enforcement should step up, even as Chinese criminal actors expand their operations within Mexico. Approximately 1 million Americans have died from drug overdoses since 1999.
China leads the world in chemical exports, with between 160,000 and 400,000 chemical manufacturers and distributors located in the country, many of whom operate illegally, according to the Brookings Institute.
Fentanyl is cheap to produce and high in potency, so many drug traffickers mix it in with other drugs, according to the DEA. Its agents have found the synthetic opioid in basically every street drug, as well as in counterfeit prescription pills. Mexican cartels can purchase the raw chemicals from China, produce fentanyl cheaply and then mix it in with other drugs, which are trafficked into the U.S.
The DEA has reported seizing more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl in the 12-month span of 2022, enough fentanyl to kill every American. Two milligrams of fentanyl, an amount small enough to fit on a pencil tip, is considered a potentially deadly dose.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Fox News reported that in January 2022, the border registered 154,874 migrant encounters, compared to just 78,414 in January 2021. Only July and August of 2022 would not be outpaced by 2021’s historically high numbers. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees Customs and Border Protection, has drawn criticism as one of several Biden officials who claimed that the border was “secure.”
Good was first elected to represent the 5th Congressional District of Virginia in 2020. He is a sitting member of the Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee, according to his website.
